Artist  John Yonko

MOTHER SIRIS - THE NIGHT ANZU

Siris - an exceedingly ancient mother goddess that preceded the Sumero-Akkadian pantheon and was often depicted as a bird that breathes fire and water.   Among her attributes were the power to mingle the elements for generation and regeneration of living things. She is credited with being the mother of Anzu, another mythological bird of great antiquarian renown.  Babylonians claimed that the dome of heaven was a lapis lazuli cauldron belonging to Siris, the mother, whom they also regarded as the Goddess of Fate.

Note: Anzu may be translated as 'knowledge of heaven'.  In turn, 'heaven' may be understood to mean anything from the sky to the solar system to all of space itself.  You had to be there to know exactly what the ancient Babylonians and Sumerians actually meant.  Unfortunately, Siris was already mythological when writing was invented, so any definition we apply today will necessarily be somewhat speculative.

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